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Entering the world
The world editor The editor is used for: * creating and editing a route and/or scenery. * creating and changing a scenario ( of a route ) In a route you define how the track goes, were the stations are, where the signals are and how they should react. It also is the place where the scenery is being defined, the roads, the rivers, mountains, vales, ... and little details which gives the game the flavor of being alive. A scenario can't exist without a track and anything todo with driving and "happening". You define the locomotives, the wagons in the consist, you define the player and the path he/she has to take. But also the AI-trains, which you have to give their own path, if driving at all. Here you also decide if it is raining or snowing, if it is a cold Winterday white as snow or a warm bright day in spring, in the morning or late at night. Starting a new route If you started a brand new route from the menu, everything will be on its default value. It will be 12h00 looking like a hot day in summer and on a green infinite field of grass one little orange sign resides: the scenario marker. Let us check some remarks first: # There is no track, but there is a (free roam) scenario marker. Strangely enough we can "play" this. But the only thing you will be able to do is to "fly" around with the arrow keys ( How exiting we made a flight simulator with infinite green grass ;-D ) # The marker is been placed on the longitude/latitude we asked ( check out underneath the compass ) and it is an "object", double click it and you get a gizmo and a panel with the game coordinates ( XYZ location, XYZ rotation, ... ). That is why: 3. # I had to make this image in "Scenario mode" to show the right panel, else we would not see it. # Hey I can't see those panels: you will if your cursor hits the left and right edges of your screen: they are ( semi-) hiding. If you don't like that behavior hit the symbol with the thumb nail in the upper right corner of each panel. The compass/location panel goes up, so you will have to find it on the upper edge of the screen. # Hey I still can't see a right panel: that is because the right panel gives you the properties and or options of an selected object. You will see it if you double click an object ( in this case since you only have the marker: select the marker by double clicking it ). # There is still another panel which isn't on the screen and that is because it is a special one, with a special feature. The developers of TS seem to like Google very much, in particular the maps of google. This makes it possible to get data from google about the real world into TS depending on the coordinates. That is why if your longitude/latitude is both 0 ie. 0°,0° you will not find anything usefull, because you are on the crosspoint of the Equator with the Greenwhich-meridian. And that point is somewhere in the Gulf of Guinea. From this starting point you can do several things by selecting the tools and available resources/options in the panels, lets go over them from left to right: The toolbox This is the main "toolbox" panel with the "object tools", the house icon, selected ( the red box itself does not do anything, it is merely decoration ;-D ). * The house symbol - is being used for every object with a fixed body. Not only buildings, bushes and trees, but also for such things as signals and markers. Even some "static" platforms and landmarks are to be found here. * The track symbol - you'll find, off course, all you track definitions in here depending on the developer sources you loaded. But it is actualy the tool which means "linear" objects, and anything that has no static length: roads, rivers, fences, .... And some special things such as turntables. * The brush symbol - "painting" in TS means more then just blotting some color on the floor. The green grass of the default bottom is only one of them, some are more 3D paints and if you define a wintertime, they change differently. This is also being used to change the height of the virtual bottom. You can "paint" the height, or even import a SRTM/GDEM source file. * The train symbol - Hitting this icon will leave the route editing mode and load the route again in "scenario mode". (link?) The browser panel This panel will change according to the tool you have selected and the resources which have been choosen. this needs some explanation. All objects, indeed everything the game engine needs is been put in seperate directories organised by "developer" ( if you want to know its under ../Railworks/Assets, but don't mess around you could end up with having to reinstall everything again ). Hit the small Cube with the small orange triangle on the "browser panel" and you get a right panel. On that panel is a dropdown list where you find the name of any builder which made something. Choosing one will give a list underneath where you can indicate which list of items you want to load into your route. This means that if you make a route with "your" resources and want to "publish" it or share with your friend, your friend will have to have the same sources or the game engine will not find the proper assets. Remark: can you make your own stuff ? Yes ! But although you don't need to be a rocketscientist to figure some things out, this is way out of the scope of this text. Now we have chosen the source of the assets we can start using them. On this panel, if no icon is chosen the list underneath will give everything. The purpose of the icons is to act as a filter. Look at them as lists which narrows down the kind of items you need. Obviously the "paint tools" height tools will not give any list, it is either up, down, leveling, ... contrary to the "paint terrain" which holds grass, fields, rocks, ... The option panel The possible options on this panel are very depending on the previous panels. ( They are not going to show up all three, as in the image, but the panel will change accordingly ;-D ) . But the upper ones ( with the red box around ) are always available. TS playing ground is divided in tiles and subdivided by an even smaller tile which can be defined ( in meters ~ 1 yard = 0,9144 meter ). The big tile ( usually in black, but it changes to white when you "fly" into it ) has a curious dimension: 1024m x 1024m ( approx. 1120 yrd x 1120 yrd ), but it's position is relative to the starting point of your route. The small tile is being draw underneath the camera-position, but it will not change with every move you make. If you want to reposition the small grid, uncheck the icon, reposition the camera ( you ) and put the grid back on. To my knowledge you can put this grid exactly where you want it to be, which makes it use rather indicative. The two other icons shows the series or point markers if any have been set up for this route and the road icon should give some kind of "traffic map". ( But to be quite honest, I never used them and I am not sure what their purpose is exactly )